Opposing Forces
by XTAIGAX
Summary: The light cannot live without the dark, the good without the bad. So why should the positive and negative forces be any different?" Astro had once said those words with truth. Now he doesn't know what to believe...
1. April 3rd

**Chapter One: April 3rd - No Road is Completely Smooth**

_Dr. Elefun had just sat there, arms crossed, grimace crossing his features, and thoughts running through his head unevenly like a marathon._

_He remembered looking out of the window, thinking about how beautifully the window had reflected the flowers of the sunset. They bloomed pink, mauve, violet, grass green, cerulean, and millions of other shades of the sunset only an artist could name. He also remembered the smile from two boys, one looking mostly like the other. They had both, at one point, warmed up the day by just smiling. The white-haired man just felt even more guilty, even though he shouldn't have. He looked at the dark sky, just above the sunset, determination glinting brightly in his large, childish eyes. He would do it, all for him._

_And this time, not even Dr. Tenma would stop him._

--

The sun blazed in a sea of blue, a few small wisps of white scattered about here and there the only thing marring the sky. The people took practically no notice of the sky as they went about their lives. The many robots in Metro City, too, paid the sky no heed as they followed their programming, performing many varied jobs.

It was a typical day in the city.

The only difference was that the city no longer floated in the sky. The people, still living within the city, had adjusted quickly to living on the surface. The only thing that was different for them were the few people that came into the city that had lived on the surface before the city fell.

For Astro, life had almost gone back to the way it was before. Even though he was not really Toby, Dr. Tenma had accepted Astro as his son and Astro had happily moved back home. Orrin had eagerly welcomed the robot boy back and was glad to see the good relationship between father and son. He had been pleasantly surprised the first time Astro's friends had visited, but they had been quite friendly towards him, exactly like Astro had treated him on their first day together.

Cora, Zane and the others had been shocked at the fact that Bill Tenma was Astro's father. Hamegg had always cast Dr. Tenma in a bad light whenever he spoke of him, so they were a little nervous upon meeting him properly - in his own house, no less! Their meeting with the brilliant scientist had gone well and their slight fear of him had disappeared. They visited often and Astro had never been happier.

Things had become quite peaceful after the Peacekeeper was destroyed and that giant floating sphere with tentacles had been taken care of. Dr. Tenma had let Astro go to school after the robot had pleaded with him. Life was good.

The black haired boy walked to the school feeling a little unusual. Small glitches would appear across his visual screen sometimes, blinding him. Occasionally, he would catch Cora staring at him, and started wondering if they were visual to everyone else. The teacher had given them a timed pop quiz, and Astro had missed a question when another glitch ran over his eyes. The teacher called him over at the end of class, and, being surprised, asked Astro, "Are you okay?"

Astro looked up, nodded, and smiled, "Yes. There's no need to worry." He waved, running outside and into the air. Halfway to his home, one of his rocket boosters stuttered, making him lose altitude, and crash into a small field of violets swaying. Astro pulled himself up, grimacing. He hadn't been braced for his fall, and, in turn, had been hurt a little more than he would've liked. His right arm had lost it's sleeve, and some of the skin had been scratched off, revealing the complex wire assortment underneath.

_Ow, geez,_ he winced. He grabbed his arm, attempting to keep hold of it, because no artificial skin was holding the wires together. _Maybe..._ he thought, _Maybe I should just... go to Dad's._ He walked in the opposite direction of where he originally intended. Astro felt a little dizzy, and a few times more, he had seen the glitches. He walked to the center of the field and dropped to his knees. He looked up, feeling like maybe he should've cursed the sun and his long-sleeved shirt. Astro thought that maybe the world was spinning because he felt light-headed and saw the sun going around in circles, but he quickly realized, when his head crashed against the ground, that he was the one _falling_. He quickly faded when a violet touched his nose.

-  
Cora, Sludge, and Zane had all promised to go to Dr. Tenma's to surprise Astro. In a few days, it would be his fourteenth birthday-April seventh. They had quickly agreed when Dr. Tenma had explained his idea for Astro's birthday present. Cora was in the lead, followed by Zane, who was followed slowly by Sludge, who, being a light person, his hoverboard wouldn't go as fast. Tears were brought to Zane's eyes from the wind, despite going slowly. He tried wiping his eyes on his sleeve, so he could see, and when he opened his eyes widely to see if they were gone, he saw a small hole in the ground.

"Cora!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He didn't know if Cora had heard him, or if she had seen the hole, too, because a few seconds later, she had come to rest at the same spot Zane was. Sludge had come a little later.

"Whoa..." Cora breathed. "Talk about crash site."

"You mean Astro site," corrected Zane. Cora looked in his direction, then at the place where his finger was pointing. Cora gasped and ran over to a small black spot nearly covered by the purple flowers.

"Astro?" Cora asked, unsure of what to do. He was lying on his left side, his left arm slacking on holding up his right. His eyes were closed, his arm was torn, and his sleeve was ripped off at the seams.

_He looks so innocent..._ Cora thought, reaching for him, and then paused, eyes wide. _What did I just think?_

She had touched his shoulderblade, and a small rev of a motor started up. Astro had gotten up, supporting himself on his left hand.

He looked up at Cora, unseeing, glowing blue eyes staring through her. Then he blinked once, twice, and his blue eyes faded down to brown. "Huh?"

"What happened, Astro?" Cora asked, evident worry replacing her normal sense of humor. Astro looked down at his arm and got up, crossing his legs, and resting his right arm on his knee. He looked back up at the three humans when he found a comfortable position.

"I'm... I'm really not sure..." he admitted. "Oh, well. I'll get it checked out when I get home. After I get this fixed first. I'm sure that whatever it is, it'll just be something small that I can easily get rid of." He smiled and prepared to blast off, when Cora held him down. He screamed, his eye partially open at the pain.

"Uh-huh," Cora scolded, letting go of his arm, "I thought so. You're in no condition to 'blast off' anywhere! Now get on this hoverboard!"

"But-!"

"No 'buts'! Get on! We are driving you to Dr. Tenma's!"

Astro's eyes faltered, closing for a few seconds, and then he slid to his knees. Cora thought she had broken him for a moment. Then his eyes flickered open again, glowing... red?... and he walked a few more feet, slowly being called after.

"Astro!" Cora yelled. He stopped, and turned his head. His glowing red eyes had rested on her, glaring, and he wasn't smiling.

"What do _you_ want?" he spat scornfully but calmly. Cora flinched at his harsh tone.

"Are you okay, Astro?" Zane asked, tugging on his left sleeve. Astro looked at him, his eyes glowing blue then brown again.

"What? Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, cocking his head to the side like a cat.

_Well, that was weird,_ Cora thought, _did I maybe make him mad?_ She mentally whimpered at the thought.

"Is Cora okay?" Astro asked, still holding up his arm. His arm slipped a little, and he silently screamed. "I have to go; this is actually starting to hurt." He fake-smiled and ran in the direction of the Ministry of Science.

"Wow," Sludge sighed, "What was _that_ about? Makes you wonder what his issue was, doesn't it, Cora?"

-

"What'd you do, To-Astro?" Dr. Tenma asked. He was currently winding the wires back into place, and fitting small pieces of adhesive to the skin. It was a delicate task, made more so by the fact that Dr. Tenma was trying to avoid causing Astro any pain while repairing him.

Astro looked up at him, still slightly confused on the matter himself. "I... I don't know," he replied honestly, and added an "I'm not lying!" when his father raised an eyebrow. He just held Astro's arm.

_I'm wondering myself, too..._ he thought. _I remember those little glitches. And on my way home, my rocket boosters gave out. Cora, Zane, and Sludge were all leaning over me, I talked to them, and then blacked out... And then when I could see again, Cora looked sad. What was going on?_

Astro flinched in pain, and looked at the tear in his arm. He thought about telling Dr. Tenma about the glitches and the stuttering but decided against it.

He walked out thirty minutes later, greeted by a glittering, colorful twilight. The last of the colors melted away, but he couldn't see the stars. The only place he _could_ was in the Junkyard. He just floated over to one of the giant pile of robot parts, on the outskirts of the city, and sat down. The Junkyard was a special place to Astro; it was here that he had met his friends. It admittedly hadn't been a very good or smooth meeting, but the place held a lot of sentimental value to Astro. It was also here that he had acquired the name Astro, given to him by the Robot Revolutionary Front. Astro looked at the sky, still wondering what he had originally always wondered; what star had he come from? They all looked alike in a way, some different colors, different brightness, different shapes and sizes, but in the long run, they were alike.

He didn't notice Cora on a junk-heap just a few feet away from him, facing the city. "Why was Astro mad at me? Did I... do something wrong?" she asked herself. Cora remembered the blank look Astro had given her when he had awoken in the field; his blue gaze had frightened her. It was not the fact that his eyes had been completely glowing blue, Cora was too used to robots to let such a trivial thing bother her, it was the uncomprehending stare that the blue eyes had given her. She shook her head, not noticing that Astro was only a few feet away from her, getting up to go home.

Floating slowly off the pile, Astro landed as soon as he was able in case his jets stuttered again. A tiny glitch hit him, not only obscuring his vision for a split second, but also making his newly repaired arm twitch like a small muscle spasm. Casting a last glance at the star-spangled sky, Astro walked off in the direction his house was. Walking slowly annoyed him a bit, but he didn't want to risk flying again. Crashing once today was enough.

When Astro reached his house, feelings of guilt welled up inside him for some odd unknown reason. Shaking away the guilty feeling as best he could, Astro went to his room, got changed and gratefully flopped onto his bed. He lay under his covers, willing sleep to come so he could get up in the morning, go to school, come home, and do some afternoon activity on the spur of the moment. His eyes closed and in a faded voice, he heard a girl say, _"Maybe I'll just... ask him tomorrow..."_ and fade into his dreams.

--

FantomoDrako: Hello fellow AB fans! I find it a shame that so many dislike the movie. I didn't like all the politics in it either, but it was a good movie. If you don't like it, that s fine, but please don't press your views onto others. Everyone has their own opinion.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this movie-based fic by XTAIGAX and myself! Please review, feedback is a great way to improve one s writing. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

XTAIGAX: Wow, good job, FantomoDrako! You actually got my crappy story to sound good... And raised it like a thousand words!


	2. April 4th

**Chapter Two: April 4th**** - A Glitch in Time**

Astro woke the next day to his father's voice. "Astro, wake up." He felt himself being shaken, but his body didn't want to respond. "Astro? Wake up!" His father sounded frantic now, shaking him harder.

"Toby!" he half shouted, half whimpered.

Astro managed a groan, since he wasn't capable of anything else. He could catch a weary sigh from Dad, but he still felt frozen. Concentrating hard, Astro managed to twitch a finger before the rest of his body caught on to what he wanted. More slowly than he liked, Astro's body responded and started moving sluggishly, as though it was being forced through molasses.

His father gently took Astro's closest hand into his. The contact sent small tingles up most of the length of his arm; leaving the limb feeling like he had cut off its circulation and now it had pins and needles. It hurt a bit, but the pain was tolerable. After a few moments of strained silence, all that was left was numbness, and he couldn't feel the pain anymore.

"Astro? What's wrong?" Dr. Tenma asked.

The numbness subsided and Astro flexed his fingers. He thought about telling his dad what had happened since the day before, but something, somewhere inside him, held him back. "Nothing," he finally answered. His dad looked doubtful, but he didn't question the spiky-haired boy. He walked out a moment later.

Astro was left alone in the room, now resting in a sitting position, staring down at his flexing fingers blankly. _What _is _wrong with me?_ he thought sadly. Now that he had his motor functions back, he walked to the closet and grabbed his, no _Toby's_, favorite shirt; a blue sweater with a white t-shirt underneath.

Just as he was pulling his hands through his shirt he felt a wave of violent intent flood his system and his arms turned into cannons, quickly shredding part of the shirt and getting cloth caught. He stumbled, his hands still halfway in the shirt, and the pants unbuttoned. The fall sent a low-powered ray of blue across the ceiling, leaving a scorch mark in its wake. He overrode his system and quickly turned his forearms back to normal.

Shaking his head while trying not to frown, Astro walked down the stairs and spotted Orrin setting down a plate loaded with over half a dozen pieces of toast.

"Master To- Astro? Astro?" the robot shyly inquired.

Astro glanced at Orrin and gave the servant robot a small, half-hearted smile. He tried to make the smile as real and sincere as he could so that Orrin would not detect the pain and confusion that whirled relentlessly within him.

His weak mask must have worked, for Orrin made no comment on his behaviour or health.

The blue core was a self-sustaining energy source, meaning Astro didn't have to recharge in any way. He also didn't need batteries as the core was the only battery he would ever need. Since Astro had no need for food or drink, he ignored the toast but nodded politely to Orrin to let the other robot know that he appreciated the gesture all the same.

Astro walked out onto the balcony and, after a moment of hesitation, jetted off, silently praying that his flight was smooth and uneventful. He felt a little better once he was in the air. It felt as though the wind was whisking his troubles away as it passed him. His rockets held out wonderfully and he softly touched down in front of the gate of the school. He wasn't feeling violent anymore, and the numbness and pain went away, but now the glitches were starting to resurface.

They weren't as severe as before, but it still bugged him when they appeared. Astro walked into the building and sat down on one of the many benches that lined the hallways. From his spot, he caught a couple of glances from Cora who was sitting a little further down the hallway on the opposite side. Some of her quick glances were determined, some were fearful, and a few were sad. All were focused on him like he had done something.

Hours later and not soon enough, class went out at a high-pitched caterwauling of the bell. Normally, Astro felt happy at school, but today, a little more so than yesterday, he felt off; a little angry, and very confused. Astro walked to the gate and then got ready to fly off, but remembered the day before and started walking. He had pushed his luck flying to school that morning; there was no need to tempt fate a second time. He walked to the edge of the field, stopped at a girly sounding call of, "Astro!" and turned.

He saw Cora, waving her arms and running toward him. "Astro," she panted a few moments later, "I... I need to... talk to you."

"Yes?" he asked quizzically, cocking his head slightly. He looked kind of like a black-and-peach cat.

"I... I want to know something." She straightened up and stared at him with blue-eyed determination. "I need to know what happened yesterday."

Astro stared at her, contemplating whether to tell her or not. Finally, he decided to tell her what was necessary to keep her from asking again. _Ever_ again. _It's _Cora_. She'd take me seriously!_ he reasoned, _She won't judge me, either. She might even _help _me!_

"I'm not sure myself..." Astro looked away, as if he himself was having trouble remembering. "I don't remember much, but I remember my rocket boosters giving out. I'd always get a warning. Or at least I think I would. I don't remember ever having a malfunction. After that I fell to the ground... It sort of felt like my system had reset. I felt strange when I woke up, partly because I saw the face you were making." He laughed, hoping Cora would just laugh back and say, _"What are you talking about? Great, we have another Zane."_

She didn't.

Astro, after a while, had noticed she held no happiness or humor in any way. He panicked. Was he malfunctioning? If he was, would Dad cast him out him again? Where would he live afterward?

"So you can't remember anything... _after_ falling?" Cora seemed disturbed. "Well, okay. See you later!" She waved and walked away.

Astro stood there for half a minute, trying to work out what had just happened. Cora hadn't looked very happy at his answer and he wondered why it was so important to her. Was she merely worried about him or was she worried for another reason? Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, Astro walked across the street.

Later that afternoon he went to the Junkyard. He needed the solitude; the time and space to try and organise his thoughts. The people from Metro City were talking about cleaning up the surface, particularly the rather large wasteland of scraps that bordered the city. It would be a great economic move to get rid of the Junkyard and dispose of everything properly instead of just dumping it all somewhere else. Still, Astro felt that if the Junkyard disappeared then so would his thinking spot. There was really no other place that he visited on his own; no other spot secluded enough that he could escape to when things got a little too hectic. He stared at the stars. They always comforted him; was it because his heart was from one of them?

"That can't be," Astro whispered, shaking his head. "I _destroyed_ both of the cores. The blue core was revived because Zog gave some of its energy back to it, but the red core exploded."

He stared at the stars a while longer then scrambled down to the bottom of the junk pile, just to start walking in a random direction. Astro dropped to his knees in a crossroad of parts. He stared up at a bright blue-tinted star.

Widget watched him from the shadows of a small pile. "Astro?" she whispered. When he didn't answer, she moved closer. "Astro?" she asked again. Widget moved to the left side of him. Astro's lips were slightly parted and his eyes were relaxed but wide, like he was trying to stay alert and away from sleepiness. They also glowed a bright blue with small spots of red. Pieces of purple specked the red spots.

Widget poked Astro's cheek. "Cora! I found out what you were talking about!"

Cora stalked out from across Widget, to the right of Astro."I told you!" Cora said angrily, with a hint of smugness. "We really have to get him to Dr. Tenma! Help me out here!" Cora hooked her arms under Astro's armpits and around his chest. She grunted as she tried to pick Astro up. She quickly learned: Robots are heavy.

"Zane! Sludge! A little help would be nice!" Cora shouted through gritted teeth.

The two boys came out from behind the cover of another pile of junk, sort of surprised that Astro hadn't noticed any of them. Zane remarked that the boy robot looked like a zombie, making Sludge and Widget shiver involuntarily. They had seen plenty of robots in various pieces but even though they knew Astro was a robot, they couldn't quite stop thinking of him as just another kid.

Zane waved a hand back and forth in front of Astro's face. The gesture elicited no reaction and Zane simply shrugged. He hadn't really expected a response though he thought it couldn't hurt to try. He stepped directly in front of Astro to try and help Cora get him into an easy carrying position.

Zane's shadow, such as it was in the wan light of the stars and moon, fell across Astro's unseeing gaze, blocking his view of the star-sprinkled sky. A slight frown crept onto Astro's face and the glow faded from his eyes, along with the blue, red and purple. His eyelids slowly began to close as his eyes regained their rich chocolate brown hue. He suddenly slumped backwards, causing Cora to stumble as his weight came to rest against her shins.

The four ex-wards of Hamegg exchanged worried glances.

"Astro? Astro!" Cora called worriedly down at the unresponsive robot at her feet. She eased him off her legs until he was lying flat upon the ground. Kneeling down beside him she began lightly slapping his cheek in an effort to bring him around, still calling his name.

Astro groaned, feeling as though Zog had stepped on his head, and opened his eyes slowly, seeing Cora's blurry face swim into view. He sincerely hoped this was not going to become a habit. Waking up to Cora's face was nice, but waking up to her worried expression after blanking out was _not_ nice. "Did I space out?" he asked, noticing the others for the first time.

"Um…" Cora mumbled uncertainly.

"Yeah, you were like a total zombie!" Zane exclaimed. "You don't wanna start eating brains, do you?"

Astro stared at Zane incredulously. "What? You watch _way_ too many zombie movies, Zane," he said firmly. Astro picked himself up and quickly patted down his clothes, dislodging patches of dust.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Cora asked, staring hard at her robotic friend.

He couldn't lie straight to Cora's face like this, even if a little voice in the back of his mind said it was alright to do so. "Yeah, I'm fine, just keep spacing out a bit. I'll ask Dad about it, okay?"

"Okay," Cora nodded reluctantly. "You'll tell me - us - if there _is_ something wrong, won't you?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry too much," he said with a small smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "I'll catch you guys later!" Without waiting for any of them to reply, Astro activated his rockets and jetted off, willing to risk the glitches to get away from his friend's stares as quickly as possible.

Dr. Elefun and Dr. Tenma were deep in discussion at the Ministry of Science, sitting opposite each other with a large desk between them. The desk was all but invisible, covered by sheets of paper with notes, equations and blueprints on them. Elefun tapped one of the blueprints with a short chubby finger.

"We're almost done. There are many small details we still have to work on though," he said with a tiny frown. "We won't have much time for testing if we want to meet our deadline."

Tenma leaned on his elbows and brought his hands together, interlocking his fingers. "If all goes smoothly we won't need to run many tests if, indeed, we need to run any at all."

Elefun looked at his friend. "I know you want this to work, but you can't put all of your faith in this. It's a new field and there aren't many references we can fall back on if something doesn't work out quite right."

"I know," Tenma stiffly replied.

Elefun sighed tiredly and began gathering up the sheets of paper. "I can have a fair portion of the remaining details done if I work through the night."

Tenma shook his head slightly. "I don't want you to wear yourself out over this," he said firmly.

"I want this done just as much as you," Elefun commented with a smile. "It should turn out to be great for Astro in the long run. I daresay he needs something like this at the moment, even if he doesn't show it."

"He's seemed a little…distracted lately. I have no idea why and he won't talk to me. I know I've never been the best father in the world but I thought he'd trust me enough to open up about anything that's troubling him," he said a touch despairingly.

"If it's something serious I'm sure he'll come to you. You'll just have to be patient," Elefun said with an encouraging smile.

"Easier said than done," Tenma muttered, catching sight of his robot son as he flew towards the room they were in. Tenma helped Elefun gather up the last of the paper and bundle it into an open suitcase. They managed to latch it shut just as Astro, opening a window and flying through, landed in the room, closing the window behind him.

"Hi Doctor Elefun," Astro greeted cheerily. He turned his smile onto his father. "Ready to go home Dad?" The young robot showed no signs of his earlier experience and he had no intention of mentioning anything to his father, despite Cora's pleas.

"Uh, yes, yes, of course," Tenma answered while Elefun returned the greeting.

"Well, come on then," Astro said impatiently a few seconds later after neither adult moved.

Tenma stood up and Astro began walking out of the room, waving goodbye to Elefun. Tenma threw a glance at the older man that quite clearly meant 'help me'. Elefun gave a small helpless shrug and offered a consoling smile. Astro was, robot or not, a teenager, and all teenagers went through a rebellious phase. Tenma would just have to ride it out as best he could, like all parents.

The car ride home was uneventful. Tenma felt too awkward to even try and start a conversation and Astro seemed content to let the silence reign. Orrin picked up on the mood and refrained from saying anything beyond what his normal programmed politeness dictated.

Once home, Tenma called for Astro to wait before he could disappear upstairs. Astro sat at the kitchen table with his father somewhat reluctantly.

"Astro," his father said slowly, "I know I've never exactly been in the running for Father of the Year, but you do know that you can come and talk to me about problems you might be having, right?"

Astro looked up at the unusually soft tone and found himself staring at his father's concerned face. "What?" he asked neutrally.

"If you're having any sort of problem about anything I want you to tell me about it, okay? I promise to listen and help as best I can," Tenma said, a slight pleading note entering his voice.

"Thanks, Dad, but there's no problem," Astro said, quickly turning his head so that his father wouldn't see his eyes flash as a glitch crossed him.

"You're sure?" Tenma pressed.

Astro nodded. "I'm sure. Goodnight Dad." With that Astro got up and went to his room, quickly got changed, and collapsed onto his bed. He felt bad about lying, but _it_ had told him to tell no one.

Sleep was long in coming. Astro lay there for a few hours trying hard to ignore the headache he had developed after the chat with his dad. He felt conflicted, tugged in two different directions by his feelings. Eventually his sleepiness won and he drifted into a restless sleep plagued with unclear nightmares.

_Sleep well... Young one..._

**FantomoDrako:** Hello again! Please don't kill **XTAIGAX** for the long wait in getting this done! It was my fault. She finished it ages ago and sent it to me so I could do my part, but I had lost all motivation regarding Astro Boy. (Yes, that's why 'Spark of the Soul' hasn't been updated.) I've spent the better part of the week focusing on this to finally finish it. I hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!

**XTAIGAX: **I can fight off anyone! And, besides, **FantomoDrako** makes these stories fun to read! She was the one who made 'Memories' fun for most people to read! Speaking of that... Eh heh...? So be nice to her!


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